Amazon Announces Six New Kids Pilots

Online retail giant Amazon has announced six new pilots for children’s programs that will be available for viewing in the company’s next wave of television pilots on Nov. 5, 2015. As with the companies previous pilot seasons, viewers will be able to stream the pilots and vote on which will be picked up to series.

As always, the pilots are restricted by region, viewable only in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Japan. The ongoing series that make it through the pilot stage will be exclusive to Amazon Prime members for streaming.

“Our new kids pilots will combine rich worlds with unique characters that we hope will appeal to our customers,” said Tara Sorensen, Amazon Studios’ Head of Kids Programming. “We’re delighted to debut these animated projects from such esteemed and remarkable creative talent.”

The first of these pilots is If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, aimed at preschool aged children. Based on the If You Give… book series by author Laura Numeroff and developed by Ken Scarborough (Saturday Night Live, Arthur), the series is described in a press release as follows: “When you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll probably ask for a glass of milk, and then…who knows what he’ll ask for next? If You Give a Mouse a Cookie follows the adventures of Mouse, Oliver and other familiar friends as they discover that when you’ve got a curious Mouse for a friend (not to mention a Moose, a Pig, a Cat and a Dog), one thing always leads to another, then another, and then another! You never know what to expect, but you do know it’s going to be fun–and maybe a little bit messy. Much like the books, the story will start in one place and lead to unexpectedly delightful twists and turns until we are back at home where we started.”

The second series, also for preschool aged children, is The Numberlys, which is based on the children’s book authored by William Joyce and illustrated by Christina Ellis. Joyce is responsible for creating the series along with Academy Award winner Brandon Oldenburg (The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, Taking Flight); Joe Fallon (Ultimate Spider Man, Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest) will write and Saul Blinkoff (Kronk’s New Groove, Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo) will direct.

The series follows “…five best friends who discover something they’ve never seen before–a tiny sprout in their concrete and metal city. Though they don’t know what it is, they decide to protect this unique little thing against all obstacles. Through invention, stumbles and bumbles, they help the sprout become a beautiful tree, making a lasting, joyful change in their world.”

The third series is Danger & Eggs, aimed at children aged between six and 11. Created by Mike Owens (Yo Gabba Gabba!, Animaniacs) and Shadi Petosky (Movie 43, Mad) and starring Primetime Emmy Award nominee Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live, The Greatest Event in Television History) and Eric Knobel (Phillip the Safety Egg, Submarine Adventure Captain), the show would follow “…the endless adventures of fearless D.D. Danger and her ever-cautious best friend, a giant, talking egg named Phillip. D.D., an energetic future stuntwoman, is always chasing her next big thrill. Lucky for her, Phillip is always there with jerry-rigged safety mechanisms to more responsibly-and sometimes absurdly-make her thrill seeking dreams come true.”

Also directed at children aged between six and eleven is Eddie of the Realms Eternal. Created by Bill Motz (Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins) and Bob Roth (The Penguins of Madagascar, Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild), the show follows an elf wizard named Hobi who is “…faced with the return of the evil Shadow Queen to the Realms Eternal, he summons the greatest hero in all of the planes of reality, ‘Edward Armstrong.’ Unexpectedly, Hobi gets a meek teen named Eddie who, much like him, has absolutely no idea what he’s doing. Together, Eddie and Hobi must work together to banish the Shadow Queen from the Realms for eternity while Eddie balances a hero’s life with the ordinary pressures of middle school life.”

Everstar is brought to us from executive producers John Rogers (The Librarians, The Player) and Jennifer Court. Intended for children aged between six and 11 and created by Becky Tinker, the series follows a young girl named Ainslie Wickett who “…accidentally intercepts an intergalactic SOS signal from a lighthouse in Maine, she and her best friend George are brought aboard a rogue spaceship called the Everstar. After defending the ship from pirates, they embark on a journey across the universe where she and her crew encounter aliens, uncover the mysteries of the Everstar and search for a way back home. ”

Last but not least is Yoyotoki HappyEars!, a bizarrely named series from Niki Yang (Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, Adventure Time with Finn & Jake). The series, aimed at children between the ages of six and 11, follows the titular Yoyotoki HappyEars and her family who land on the planet Mytholopia and “…find themselves in a land where mythical creatures rule and magic is the norm. Although they try to keep their lives as normal as possible (and their jellybean pot pie business up and running), the unusual citizens of Mytholopia stir up their lives in extraordinary ways. Together with her buddies Steak and Hotwings, Yoyotoki discovers the magic in just being herself–and learns the hard way that you should never trust a Medusa snake to give you directions.”

The pilots will be viewable on both Amazon.com and on devices compatible with the Amazon Video app.

About Lawson Kiehne

Lawson Kiehne is an aspiring Australian writer who is fascinated by everything involving stories. In his spare time he enjoys reading, playing video games and watching films and television and hopes to one day be a published novelist.